Friday, October 29, 2010

Today I was out in the woods and I was inspired by grape leaves and raisin grapes on the vine. I decided to hunt up a round pattern I'd drawn for a class on using dip dyes/casserole dyes, wool that changes from one colour to another. It is now the October free pattern on the Mat. If you are interested in a the free patterns, 10 to date....and one each month ... join the Mat

I love the colour way on the note card! This might work for the pattern and didn't the some of Birdie marvelizing look like it might work?

Though my grapes were deep purple and withered, the leaves look the same.

It was snowing and raining and the sun was shining on our walk- well we had about all 4 seasons at once as we walked MoMo all over the place, well truthfully he ran.

I was too busy looking and being inspired. He is more of an olfactory guy.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world. You impoverish yourself if you forget this errand.Woodrow Wilson Today as I was dyeing some co-ordin8s to make a living I found this in my wool pile:Mary tries to get some rest in a wooley hideaway.She looks a little cross.

Look how concerned Birdie appears as she lays upon the Co-ordin8s and a giant pile of amazing marvelizing. Whatever is going on?

Here is a clue:

We are dog sitting handsome Mr. Momo who treats the girls like glass.

They all get along except when Mo starts running around then all Siamese go to ground.

Those wondering about Celie, she is sleeping in a dark room on a mohair blanket and cannot be roused not even by a laser light.

Monday, October 25, 2010

This Art work by Rob Gonsalves plays with structure themes, there is a point where imagination can crossover

This recent question from my online studio class on Design is so good I decided to share it with you.

Are there types of color themes or is a color theme anything a person decides to put together?

Dear Student,

This is a great question. You can substitute the phrase "colour plan " for theme.

I will only use the words theme or colour plan if the colours in it respond well and are pleasing to look at, indicating they were deliberated on.

Ideally a theme isn't just a thrown together assortment of colours. Instead they are a carefully planned out collection of colours that tell the story of that theme to the viewer.

If you watch HGTV you might hear and see people being encouraged to have a ideal they are shooting for, like victorian or french country or italian villa. All of these have a certain "look" including furniture shapes, textiles types, decorations, window treatments, etc.

When I talk about colour themes I'm talking about the same thing.

Throughout history artists have combined colours in ways we find pleasing.

Now in our society we are inundated with themed colour use every where. Magazines are planned with colour themes, cloth, cards, paper, linens, ads, furniture. EVERYTHING manmade we buy has been colour planned. It has a theme.

I frequently use McDonalds as an example of this planning. Bright yellow, red, white with a hint of blue.

Now imagine if I used this theme for a rug, not McDonalds itself but the colours of McDonalds. Would I be able to include a bit of Barbie's theme colours ... bright pink, into this mix easily?

I bet not. I would be mixing my themes.

These colour themes are not related in any way.

Sometimes it is possible to use two themes, like Santa Fe colours and Fall woodland colours, they have a couple of crossovers- brown, orange.

This is why it is so easy to pop turquoise as poison into a fall woodland theme. It fits.

You can decide to put any colour with any colour, in my experience it seldom is successful.

To me it is like deciding to write a book without pondering it further than this; you need words right?

So just grab some random assorted ones out of the dictionary, type them up, don't worry if it doesn't make sense ...

It is fine colour craft the colour theme stands for, the art of using colour wonderfully.

Monday, October 18, 2010

I was at Susan Feller's home recently and saw a piece of wool she bought from you. An exquisite piece moving from one complex color area to another.

I am a rughooker and, of course, love using beautifully dyed wool in my pieces. But a piece of wool like the one Susan has should live on its own. I would like to hang it on the wall or drape it over the back of a couch or drape it across a table.

And now Iris is hers... interesting trend eh? The big beauts get off the floor and onto the wall!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Geniuses, they are there waiting to be seen and heard if we would only clean out our ears and wipe the dust from our eyes.

Genius 1

Look at this amazing picture man took on Monday. Colour perfectly arrayed in complements.

Genius 2

One of my most inspirational friends called last night and told me she mounted one of my dyed wool big beauties on a frame, just as though it was art. I had done this small scale but never LARGE. As Christmas is coming these would be great to add to my roster of stock. Many people say they cannot bear to cut them up, this would be a better function than being stored on a shelf.

Genius 3

Speaking of gifts my other genius, (how can I be so blessed?) suggested that I encourage people to get a Welcome Mat Subscription gift card ready because the price point is so reasonable.

Here is what she said:

"You have a wonderful website and very reasonable subscription rate. It makes awonderful "just because I love you" gift. Do you offer gift certificatesfor friends or maybe a "Hook-in door prizes" ??? The price point is perfectfor the holidays too! It's a "gift that keeps on giving"!"

I think that's a great idea!

Do you know someone who would love a subscription? Can't do it yourself? Put a bug in their family's ear! Looking for a more extravagant gift, perhaps for yourself? Think of coming to the studio for semi private classes next year, you arrange the time.

You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving. ~Author Unknown